You will need to sign on with your LLLID (La Leche League ID) before you can post. If you have never claimed your LLLID, create your LLLID now. To sign in, click the LLLID Sign On button in the upper right corner. Enter your LLLID Alias and click the button again.

Re: Milk in tubing. Help!

So I totally had this happen to me twice in two days. I figured out quickly the 2nd time why it happened. When I had put everything together, I had neglected to move the little white membrane to make sure it was free. As I pumped, the milk built up quickly in the valve and backed up the tubing. Since then, I have made sure to move the membrane everytime and it hasn't happened since

Re: Milk in tubing. Help!

Milk gets into my tubing all the time. I'm not sure why but it's really becoming a bother. At any rate, I've found a good way for dealing with it. Medela recommends washing with soap and water but when I put my tubing into the sink, none of the soapy water actually ever really gets into the tubing. To get around this, instead I fill a cup with warm soapy water and then use a small 5 mL syringe (got it from the hospital I gave birth at) and inject the soapy water into the tubing until it is running out the other end. Then, I fill the syringe with water and do the same thing. After this, I do a final rinse with rubbing alcohol to help dry the tubing. After the rubbing alcohol, I then attach the tubing to my pump and turn the pump on for a couple minutes. It's usually dry after that. I wish I knew why my pump keeps on backing up the milk. I can see where it gets into the tubing from. The chamber right above where the membrane sits has a small vertical plasic divider that separates the back part of the pump, which is where the connector for the pump is, and the front part of the pump where the horns attach. In mine, the milk likes to stick to the divider and with the suction, gets carried backwards into the tubing. Nothing i've done so far has helped.

Re: Milk in tubing. Help!

I have had new membranes on it. Still does it. It's an old pump (borrowed from my cousin) and so it just might need to be replaced. It has done it from pretty much the start. I just wish I knew why it was happening. It doesn't have anything to do with the fullness of the bottle (I don't pump much milk) and it doesn't seem to have much to do with positioning as it happens when I pump holding the horns on as well as when I pump hands free using the bra-thing to hold the horns on. I've bought a new pump and it's still in the box...just desperately trying to find other ways to trouble shoot before commiting to opening the box of the new one. I'd just hate for it to turn out to be something to do with my let down or the texture of my milk and then to go ahead and open the new box and find it happening again.

Re: Milk in tubing. Help!

There is always a reason for it. And it isn't you I've never had it just randomly happen. Really. I've been pumping for a total of about 3 years, and with a whole bunch of different pumps, and that only has happened when I have too full bottles or it was a crummy pump (I was given a miPump, and it did that too. Horrible thing)

Maybe take that pump to see an IBCLC and see if she can look at it hands-on and see if there is a reason why?

Re: Milk in tubing. Help!

That's a thought...I haven't tried talking with my lactation consultant about it yet. I bought a freestyle. My current pump is a PIS backpack version. It's used but I don't think my cousin used it much as she is a SAHM and I think she just used mainly to help establish her supply when her baby was in the NICU for a couple of weeks. It seems to be pumping well - I don't get a huge amount of milk when I pump but what I get is average/adequate - I get around 1 oz each side per hour and I only have the pump turned up to 3/4 of the way. I suppose it could be a membrane-getting-stuck issue. I'm going to see how things go tomorrow when I pump and make sure I move the membranes around before I start pumping and see if I can stop it from happening. I chose the freestyle as my new pump because it seems it is less likely to have the milk-in-tubing issue. At least, from the reviews I've read I've only seen one person complaining of milk getting into the tubing. Do you know if the freestyle is actually a closed system? I haven't seen any answers to that question. I would consider switching to an ameda just to get one with a closed system except it would mean switching over all of my bottles etc all of which is medela and I'd rather not have to buy new stuff.

Re: Milk in tubing. Help!

The Freestyle is NOT a closed system. I had one. I called the company and asked. None of the Medela pumps are closed except the hospital grade ones.

I only got milk in the tubes in that one once and it was totally my fault.

ETA: I used all kinds of bottles with all my pumps. Ameda bottles, Evenflo bottles, Medela bottles on the Lansinoh, etc. It drives me batty that my Limerick is the only one of my pumps that doesn't take bottles from other brands. I pump into the bottles and then pour off into what he eats from. I got into the habit when we were using cleft feeders. More work, but I use the same bottles for 24 hours, just storing in the fridge or a cooler between pumping.